R2P: Opening Discursive Spaces for Politics of Protection

Abstract

The chapter makes a twofold argument about R2P: First, R2P has opened a discursive space that enables debates (if not always actions) concerning protecting populations from mass atrocity crimes; second, this discursive space is also helpful to grasp and analyse the development of R2P. The chapter puts forward the concept of a discursive space, which has three dimensions: norms, actors, and discourse. Two key norms are discussed in more detail, the genocide prohibition norm and R2P. The chapter then analyses three situations where mass atrocity crimes either occurred or actors assumed they were about to occur: Rwanda in 1994, Kosovo in 1999, and Libya in 2011. In conducting the analysis, the chapter provides support for the twofold argument. Methodologically the paper relies on an interpretivist methodology and reconstructive approaches to text analysis. It engages with primary sources from the UN and other relevant international organisations, secondary literature, and expert interviews.